Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that his country’s forces have captured one of the four wives of the slain leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, days after it captured the elder sister, Rasmiya Awad.
Erdogan made the announcement while delivering a speech in the capital of Ankara, in which he also criticised the United States for making a fuss over the killing of Baghdadi.
“The United States said Baghdadi killed himself in a tunnel. They started a communication campaign about this. But, I am announcing it here for the first time: We captured his wife and didn’t make a fuss like them. Similarly, we also captured his sister and brother-in-law in Syria” Erdogan said.
Erdogan gave no other details. He did not say when or how the woman was captured or identify her by name. The IS leader blew himself up during an Oct. 26 raid by U.S. special forces on his heavily fortified safe house in the Syrian province of Idlib.
Erdogan’s announcement comes just days after Turkish forces captured al-Baghdadi’s elder sister, identified as Rasmiya Awad, in the town of Azaz, in Aleppo province in northwestern Syria.